Parents of 'miracle' baby: Nurses said there was more chance of us winning the lottery than taking home a healthy baby

DARCEY VALLIS's parents were told to say goodbye to their daughter after a traumatic birth which saw her not breathing for eight minutes - a year on the little girl is thriving after heroic efforts from doctors.

LITTLE Darcey Vallis is a bundle of energy – but after she was born her parents were told they had more chance of winning the lottery than returning home with a healthy baby.

Complications during labour left the tot clinging to life for nearly a month in three different ­hospitals.

She did not breathe for eight minutes at birth and doctors battled to bring her back to life.

But two days later her parents, John and Morven, were told to say goodbye to their only child, as she so sick doctors did not expect her to live.

Full life-support failed to work and her only hope was a special £40,000-a-year artificial heart and lung bypass machine but there were only two available in ­Scotland at the time.

Now, a little over a year on and against all odds, Darcey is like any other healthy baby, who loves to run and play.

John, 36, from Minard, Argyll, said: “It just shows you that ­miracles can happen.

“But I’ll never forget the nurse who told us that there was more chance of winning the lottery than Darcey coming through ­everything she did unscathed.

“It really does put the odds into perspective. She has been very lucky.”

The couple were warned that even if their daughter did survive, she could be severely brain damaged, as she had been starved of oxygen for so long.

But three months ago Darcey celebrated her first birthday. And despite being only 15 months old, she is already ahead of her peers and is learning to run.

To thank the hospital staff who saved her, the couple plan to take part in Keyline’s Juke Box Rally, driving more than 2800 miles from ­Scotland to Spain and back in three days in aid of Yorkhill Children’s Charity.

Morven, 38, said: “She’s a wee character and we are so thankful for all they did for her. I still can’t believe she is here and is perfectly healthy, doing all the things she should be doing.

“It’s like a dream. I was convinced she was going to die. She’s a wee miracle.”

The family’s nightmare began on March 1 last year at ­Lochgilphead Hospital when Darcey’s heart rate plummeted during labour.

Morven was rushed 80 miles to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, where she was given oxygen to get the baby’s heart rate back up.

Darcey with her family (Photo: Michael Traill)

But when that failed and the tot’s heartbeat “dropped like a stone”, the mum-to-be was given a general anaesthetic and rushed into theatre for an emergency caesarean section.

Darcey was not breathing when she was born and doctors battled for at least eight minutes to bring the 7lb 5oz baby back to life.

Darcey was then put on a ­ventilator and whisked to the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow.

She was also given hypothermic therapy and placed on a special cooling mat for 72 hours, to bring her temperature down to 33C, to minimise any damage caused to the brain by a lack of oxygen.

Her condition, however, continued to deteriorate. And after two days, she was transferred to Yorkhill in a last-ditch attempt to save her, by placing her on special life-support, called ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane ­Oxygenation).

On the morning Darcey was being moved to Yorkhill – the only hospital in Scotland to provide the artificial heart and lung treatment – doctors told the couple they did not expect her to survive the trip.

Morven said: “I’ll never forget the morning the nurse said, ‘I think you should come and say goodbye to your daughter because we don’t think she’s going to make it to Yorkhill’.

“They kept saying you have a very sick baby and I just started to cry.”

Morven was so distraught she ­struggled to bring herself to go and see her daughter.

“I just couldn’t cope,” she said.

“I couldn’t go into Yorkhill because I was convinced that was it. When I went up to see her I was hanging on to every door, I was so scared.

“Seeing her on the ECMO machine was really hard.

“She was a yellowish colour and because she had to be sedated she didn’t move and her eyes were shut. She had a big tube coming out of her neck with blood coming out of it.

“We couldn’t see past the forest of machines that were keeping her alive. It was horrible. Every time I saw the consultant I thought it was going to be bad news.” But after just 48 hours on ECMO, Darcey started to show signs of improvement.

She spent six days on the machine, which takes over the work of the heart and lungs by circulating the blood outside the body.

John said: “The doctor at Yorkhill said she got to them just at the right time. Now she’s a wee terror.”

But he said they still ­struggled to come to terms with what happened.

“When you are told your baby is not breathing, you think your world has just imploded,” he said.

“My wife was so drugged up, it was two or three days before she realised what had happened.

“Having to go through all that and then break it to my wife was horrendous.”

Darcey in hospital (Photo: Michael Traill)

Even when Darcey’s life no longer hung in the balance, because of the lack of oxygen to the brain, the couple had an anxious wait for the results of MRI scans and tests to confirm there was no damage to her brain.

But Darcey has since passed all her eye and hearing tests and at 15 months old is as active as any other happy-go-lucky tot.

John said: “To say it was touch and go for a while is an understatement. But Darcey is doing great now. She’s running all around the house with her special friend Bran the springer spaniel.

“It was a very long time for her not to be breathing and the doctors were up front and told us that they thought she may have brain damage.

“But she is a clever wee thing and she passes every check-up with flying colours. If you met her for the first time, you would never know what an ­incredibly difficult start to life she had.

“But she wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Yorkhill. They were just amazing.

“We may never know what the root cause was but life now is all about our very special wee girl. She’s our world.”